Note 16 - Business Unit Segment Information (Detail) (USD $)	3 Months Ended				12 Months Ended
	Dec. 29, 2012	Dec. 29, 2012	Sep. 29, 2012	Oct. 01, 2011	Dec. 29, 2012		Dec. 31, 2011		Jan. 01, 2011
Business Combination, Acquisition Related Costs					$ 1,000,000		$ 1,000,000
Business Acquisition, Inventory Step-up	600,000	600,000			600,000		3,700,000
Pension Expense	5,300,000				5,100,000
Asset Impairment Charges		7,300,000	500,000	2,300,000	500,000		2,300,000		3,000,000
Finite-Lived Intangible Assets, Purchase Accounting Adjustments							700,000
undefined					7,334,000	[1]		[1]		[1]
Concentration Risk, Percentage							10.00%
Arrow Pemco [Member] | Sales Revenue, Goods, Net [Member]
Concentration Risk, Percentage					10.00%				10.40%
Geographic Concentration Risk [Member] | Sales Revenue, Goods, Net [Member]
Concentration Risk, Percentage					67.00%
China [Member] | Sales Revenue, Goods, Net [Member]
Concentration Risk, Percentage					21.00%
Shocking [Member]
undefined	7,300,000
Des Plaines [Member]
Asset Impairment Charges							800,000		1,300,000
Dundalk [Member]
Asset Impairment Charges							600,000		1,700,000
Dunsen [Member]
Asset Impairment Charges							$ 900,000

[1] During the fourth quarter of 2012, the company recorded approximatetly $7.3 million related to the impairment and equity in net loss of its investment in Shocking Technology. (See Note 6).